The taxation trade-off between progressivity and coercion: An empirical assessment for 19 European countries.

The role of the State in economies has changed in recent years. The public sector's challenge is to reconcile a wide range of new services using the lowest possible costs. Thus, understanding how governments raise and set their revenues is highly important. The effectiveness with which tax agencies carry out their tasks has always been seen as a priority by governments. Tax administrations play an essential role in all countries, so its study is of extreme interest. They must provide quality services to taxpayers to voluntarily enforce their civic duty regarding tax legislation. Taxation is not a technical issue but purely political and philosophical that allows societies to function correctly. Progressive tax systems have long been an element of study by economists. Its creation is based on equality and proportionality concerning the tax burden. We will try to find the possible relationship between the progressiveness of taxes and the efficiency of the tax authorities. That is, to what extent a progressive tax system may or may not alleviate the costs of tax collection activity and thus promote greater prosperity and, ultimately, efficiency. Our findings suggest that countries with inefficiency in direct taxes make progressive efficiency impossible.